Chaiya ( th, ไชยา, ) is a former capital district (''
Amphoe mueang
An amphoe (sometimes also ''amphur'', th, อำเภอ, )—usually translated as "district"—is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Groups of ''amphoe'' or districts make up the provinces, and are analogous to countie ...
'') of
Surat Thani province,
Southern Thailand. The main town is
Talat Chaiya.
Geography
Neighboring districts are (from the south clockwise):
Tha Chang and
Kapoe of
Ranong province;
Phato of
Chumphon province, and
Tha Chana in Surat Thani. To the east is the
Gulf of Thailand
The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...
, with Cape Sui marking the northern end of the
Bandon Bay.
The eastern part of the district consists of mostly flat low coastal areas, while to the west are the mountains of the
Phuket mountain range, including
Kaeng Krung National Park.
History
Laem Pho Beach in the district is thought to have been a
Srivijaya Kingdom seaport in the 7th to 13th centuries. Srivijaya was an Indonesian city-state that grew to become an influential maritime power in what is now
Southeast Asia.
Tang Dynasty (7th–10th centuries) ceramics have been found in the area as well as pottery from India and glassware from
Persia. Similar finds have been made in Ban Thung Tuek,
Takua Pa district,
Phang Nga province on the other side of the
isthmus, 200 km distant, indicating that there may have been an overland route connecting the Gulf of Thailand with the
Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...
coast. This route would have enabled traders to avoid piracy in the narrow
Strait of Malacca.
The name ''Chaiya'' might be derived from its original Malay name ''cahaya'', meaning 'light', 'gleam', or 'glow'. Some scholars identify Chai-ya as coming from Sri-vi- ''ja-ya''.
Wat Phra Borommathat is centered on a reconstructed
stupa
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumamb ...
in Srivijaya-style.
The nearby branch of the
National Museum
A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...
has several relics of that time on display. Two more former stupas nearby are now only brick mounds.
Inscription 23, as it was labeled by
Prince Damrong
Prince Tisavarakumarn, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (Thai language, Thai: ; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมว ...
in his ''Collected Inscriptions of Siam'', is now attributed to Wat Hua Wiang in Chaiya. Dated to the year 697 of the
Mahasakkarat era
The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year 78.
The era has been widely used in different regions of India as well as in SE Asia.
Hist ...
(i.e., 775 CE), the inscription on a
Bai Sema shaped stone tells about the King of Srivijaya having erected three stupas at that site and possibly the one at Wat Phra Borom That.
Another important temple near Chaiya is Wat Suan Mohkha Phalaram (also known by the short name Suan Mok, or Wat Than Nam Lai 'Monastery of Flowing Water'), a forest temple. The temple was founded in 1932 by Phra
Buddhadasa (1906-1993), a revered Buddhist teacher. In 1959 the temple was relocated to the present 380
rai (150
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
; 0.6 km
2) site. These
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
are believed to have been used to store rice in large quantities, due to the invading
Japanese. These large Buddhist rice temples are rare in the region and only one has been officially labeled as a rice storage temple.
Although, the capital district (''Amphoe mueang'') of Surat Thani province is
Bandon district, the local Surat Thani people generally refer to this district as the capital district and refer to Bandon district as
little China of the province.
Transport
Chaiya is on the southern railway line,
Chaiya Railway Station is the main railway station of the district.
Asian highway
The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve their connectivity via hig ...
AH2
Asian Highway 2 (AH2) is a road in the Asian Highway Network running from Denpasar, Indonesia to Merak and Singapore to Khosravi, Iran. The route is connected to M10 of the Arab Mashreq International Road Network. The route is as follows:
...
(
Thailand Route 41) also passes the city.
Administration
Chaiya district is divided into nine sub-districts (''
tambons''). These are further divided into 54 villages (''
muban
Muban ( th, หมู่บ้าน; , ) is the lowest administrative sub-division of Thailand. Usually translated as 'village' and sometimes as 'hamlet', they are a subdivision of a tambon (subdistrict). , there were 74,944 administrative mu ...
s''). There are three sub-district municipalities (''
thesaban tambons''):
Talat Chaiya includes most of ''tambon'' Talat Chaiya and parts of Lamet;
Phumriang the entire ''tambon'' Phumriang;
Wiang the entire ''tambon'' of Wiang. The other six sub-districts each have a
tambon administrative organization as their local government.
References
External links
Chaiya National MuseumSuan Mokkh - The garden of liberationChaiya City WebsiteChaiya Witthaya School
{{Authority control
Chaiya
